


i met her at church (but she could be satan)

by ai_sana



Category: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Mythology References, Reincarnated Soulmates, Religious Imagery & Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:21:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29351094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ai_sana/pseuds/ai_sana
Summary: “Kureha Yuna.”“Tokime Shizuka…”This was the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end.
Relationships: Kureha Yuna/Tokime Shizuka
Kudos: 6





	i met her at church (but she could be satan)

“Kureha Yuna.”

“Tokime Shizuka…”

This was the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end.

Chaotic and monstrous, the crimson blaze of passion burned in the divine heroine’s eyes. She was Tokime.

Silent and peaceful, fresh blood dripped down from the cruel villainess’ head and lips alike. She was Kureha.

Kureha knelt on the ground in agony. Tokime stood before her, clutching her seven-branched sword, her dark grey hair flying in the icy wind of the night.

It was almost a beautiful sight. There was a trace of the grace and loveliness of the past on Kureha’s face, and her cold, bloodied hands smelled of thrill and adventure, the kinds that Tokime couldn’t dare to dream about.

But there was nothing to worry about now. The selfish demon would not live to see tomorrow’s sunrise, for that evil deserved to be punished.

Thus the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. Kureha’s blood-red soul was broken into pieces, and the two of them were no more.

When Tokime was asked about her first love, she told them that proud Diviners of the Tokime Clan like herself do not fall in love with anything other than Japan.

Legends went that the brave Kannagi defeated the evil Akki and gloriously saved her country’s people.  
Legends forgot to mention that a ruthless killer was what the heroine eventually became.

She was the eclipsed sun, after all, and the villainess was her moon.

Therefore it was only natural that when they were born again, she was Amaterasu and she was Tsukuyomi.

After marrying each other, Amaterasu ruled the Heavens as the queen of the universe, and Tsukuyomi was merely her consort. It was karma, or so one would think.

They made a perfect match. Amaterasu was the rising sun, and Tsukuyomi a serene soul. Funnily enough, Tsukuyomi was the one who’s hellbent on orders and etiquette this time.

It was not funny anymore when Tsukuyomi killed the goddess Uke Mochi at a banquet.

“You are an evil _kami_ ,” a disgusted Amaterasu scolded her wife. She finally arrived at the realization that whatever good there was in Tsukuyomi, it was but a reflection of her own sunlight.

“Is that so…?” Tsukuyomi asked plainly, tossing her light grey hair to the side.

Indeed, the moon goddess had never been virtuous deep down. She was a murderer all right. Darkness, shadow, impurity. Kureha Yuna.

Tsukuyomi was then banished by Amaterasu from the Heavens, for that evil deserved to be purged. Thus day and night were created in the world.

Legends went that the moon god could never reach the sun goddess despite chasing her in the night sky for eternity.  
Legends were wrong, because in reality Tsukuyomi didn’t bother to breathe in Amaterasu’s direction ever again.

Disappointment filled Amaterasu, but her heart was still hollow. She refused to regret what she did; that was the right thing to do. Prioritizing her selfish personal feelings over what’s good and what’s right was not something she would ever allow herself to do. Stubborn, righteous, _pure_. Tokime Shizuka.

Amaterasu secretly made one selfish wish, that she could be loved unconditionally in her next life. And so the sun, covering all of her light in shame, was dark when it rose, and in such a sinful way she met her inevitable demise. The moon could not shed her light, so Tsukuyomi was gone with her. Without them, this universe never saw its next breaking dawn.

In their third lives, they were the youth. She was Tara and she was Mara.

Tara was a teenage girl made of pure gold. A symbol of holiness and sacredness, her natural golden glow could dazzle and charm all those who sinned to kneel before her to pray for forgiveness and salvation.

But Mara was different, she was unrepentant, all poison to the bones. With her lips coloured in blood and wine, she spewed out words of pure evil. Only fools fell for her.

Everyone else worshipped Tara and the ground she walked on, but she felt lonely as ever. She had gotten love, but this was far from the love she wished for. Those who begged on their knees deemed themselves so unworthy that they could hardly bear to converse with her.

When she met Mara in an empty library, the extreme boredom and hollowness in Tara’s heart caused her to make the impulsive decision to sit down next to her. Mara turned around, and gave her a warm but eerie smile.

She was beautiful, with lips coloured in blood and wine. Only fools fell for her. Surely, Tara wasn’t a fool.

“Have you heard of The Tale of the Holy Fool?” Mara asked.

Tara had not.

So Mara told her that tale.

_Once upon a time, a young man lived in a small town near the sea. Growing up reading the Bible and books about chivalrous knights, he vowed to become a selfless hero who would devote everything to God when he grew up._

_He went to the town church every Sunday to pray. The priest’s daughter was a reckless rebel, and she fell in love with him. He rejected her love and the red apple she gave him, and told her that he would only fall for true angels while she was but a sinner who could never go to Heaven._

_In the end, the man snapped and killed people in the name of God. He was executed for his crimes, and went to Hell anyway. The biggest joke was that he really did find his angel there; he fell in love with Lucifer himself._

_That’s the end of his tale. Wasn’t he a Holy Fool indeed?_

“That was ridiculous,” was Tara’s comment, but the story was stuck in her head and she couldn’t let it go.

Mara leaned closer, her dull yellow pupils meeting Tara's shining violet eyes. There was something indescribable in her serene smile and soft voice. She was three intoxicating poisons in one.

And in the end, Tara was just a fool.

Legends went that sin was bitter and repulsive.  
Legends lied, because the lips of evil tasted delicious and sweet, like blood and wine and apples.

Tara had fallen, like pure gold stained and tainted by profane sacrilege.

This world lost its original balance and collapsed. The two girls disappeared into the nothingness, for that evil deserved to be crucified. This time, neither of them regretted a thing.

And so their story went on and on.

Life and death. Moon and sun. Saint and sinner. Hate and love. Day and night. End and beginning.

Everything was one and the same. (It always had been.)

At the very last, they arrived at this life.

She is Shizuka and she is Yuna. You already know about them.

Yuna kneels on the ground in agony. Shizuka stands before her, clutching her seven-branched sword, her dark grey hair flying in the icy wind of the night. A mirage at a nostalgic place.

Shizuka closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath. She holds out her hand to Yuna, for that evil deserves to be forgiven.

Birds sing in the fresh morning air as the sun gradually rises up to the clear sky of the dawn. It is almost a beautiful sight.

“Tokime Shizuka…”

“Kureha Yuna.”

This is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning.


End file.
